Is there still a reason to purchase laserdisc?
 

With the almost-nil possibility of the Star Wars Original Trilogy (non-SE) making it to DVD, the only way to own it would be the Definitive Trilogy on LD.

My question is, is this enough justification to purchase a laserdisc player? Are laserdisc players still manufactured? Is there any movies on LD that haven't seen a DVD release yet?

It's way more than enough reason to buy a LD. Not to mention a lot of other titles that wont make it on DVD with the features and extras that were on the LD's. Blade Runner CRITERION COLLECTION for example. Yeah, that wont be on DVD anytime soon.

The Game is better on LD then DVD.

Yes, there is, I never owned Laserdisc before but some people own Laserdiscs because there is some DVDs that is cut while the Laserdiscs is not and some Laserdics have better quality than DVDs.

No... Make sure to purchase multiple players for back-up purposes, I have four and still don't feel safe.
Yes... My favorites are the DTS versions that haven't made it to DVD, such as Ronin, Blade, ID4, Scream 1&2, Deep Rising, and Dark City. Also many special editions haven't transferred over yet, with The Frighteners being my favorite. Also plenty of films have yet to make onto DVD and you must decide if the investment is worth it for the number of movies you buy.

Am still hogging my laserdisc collection.Not about to abandon the old for the new even
though I am already into DVDs still it's intro.

'1776' and 'The Alamo' have better versions on LD....

I'm a LD holdover also... two players and always on the lookout for an even better one.

There are also the "Big Head" individual film widescreen LDs. Also, earlier but inferior widescreen LDs.

But isn't the Definitive Collection the best LD release of Star Wars?

Definitive is a neat box but the trilogy is CAV / 30 minutes a side = lots of flipping plus some sets had a defective disc for one of the movies missing a brief bit of footage.

For watching I would get the "faces" THX widescreen releases which used the same masters as definitive.

On the plus side, it is CAV (but that also means chainging sides and discs more often) and there are sporadic commentaries and some other extras but the "Big Head" versions came out later and I've heard they are probably a little better in both picture and sound quality (I've never done a comparison; I have the Definitive Collection myself).

That missing footage was restored on later printings. I have a later printing.

The Definitive Box was notorius for laser rot.

Lasers are pretty much the only way to get those early Warner "Budget Line" <i>(Boiling Point, With Honors, etc.) </i> discs in widescreen.

Yes I know the later runs fixed it - but it's a problem with a lot of the sets and adds to the pita factor trying to put a "good" set together.

Wasn't this set also prone to rot? That may be another factor that hampers getting a good set.

I've never heard anyone complain about the CLV faces releases.

Lots of Criterions out there that won't make it to DVD, including the original version of Blade Runner. Lots of music video and concerts from Japan that probably will never see the light of day either.

I have the faces set of Star Wars, but no LD player. I've seen several on ebay from Pioneer, etc. What is a good one to get? Are they labeled a certain way to let you know that they will play both sides without having to flip the disc yourself? Also, what's the difference with CAV, CLV, etc?

I would say no unless you do research and find there are lots of films THAT YOU WANT that are on laserdisc but not on dvd.

I bought a laserdisc player mainly for the OT but now I have great looking anamorphic bootlegs of the OT on dvd which look just as good as my laserdiscs. They have all the extras & no flipping! Most of the laserdiscs I bought for it have been released to dvd now except for a couple (wide-screen version of The Idolmaker, Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte and one or two others). If it's not on dvd by now you can usually find boots of most movies you want.

New releases are coming to dvd of older films everyday as well. I would pass. If you are dead set on getting one, I have a Pioneer that I got a few years ago that runs great which I would be happy to sell you. :)

Working hardware is the biggest issue I have now. I still have 600+ lasers, but all my players are biting the dust. I always bought the Pioneer 7-series players and still have the CLD-702, 703 and DVL700. The older CLD players are now having major issues with flipping the discs and starting up, due to the fact that the center grip on the hub of the motor is starting to wear down and can't grab the heavy disc to set it in motion. I have been able to successfully repair it using the scrubbing technique from the very knowledgeable folk at alt.laserdisc, but it's not working too well as of late. The last LD players made were probably 1998-1999, so what's the shelf life on those units going to be?

I rarely ever use lasers anymore since they've pretty much been replaced by the DVD version, but it's sad to see the day coming where they will no longer be able to be viewed because of hardware issues.

All Pioneer 7 and 9 series players were auto-flippers and also had digital memory so you could have still frames and special effects without CAV discs. CAV discs were pressed in a special way where you could access each frame by number with no distortion but you could only get a half hour per side. CLV discs gave you an hour per side, but you couldn't do scanning, still frame etc. without a digital memory player.

What's missing from the defective The Definitive Collection? I don't know which version I have.

One special laserdisc box set I have is the "Wyatt Earp: Extended Cut" (Kevin Costner) which isn't available on DVD.

Laserdiscs are nice!

Then I have "Night of the Creeps", which probably isn't coming to DVD at all... At least it seems like it.

7 seconds of Leia welding on the Millennium Falcon are missing from the beginning of side 3 of Empire. Instead it begins with Leia hanging up the welder.

If you didn't know it was supposed to be there you wouldn't miss it.

True around 98-99 the last LD-only player rolled off the assembly line, but the Pioneer DVL-919 was still be manufactured in limited runs. The Pioneer DVL-919 is still listed on Pioneer Electronics' website, so it is probably still available.

I would contact Pioneer's website to find out where you can order the unit. MSRP is $1275, but Map should be around $899 or $999. It expensive, but at least if you get a brand new unit, it will have been built in the last 12 to 18 months.

fitprod

My Star Wars in the set is not the greatest, but the other two are fine.

I still have a few weird oddities on LD that I keep:

Faster Pussycat Kill! Kill! / Motor Psycho
Street Fighter animated movie (original Japanese version)
A Wish for Wings That Work (freaking Bloom County!)

There are a few other threads:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/archive.../t-188526.html

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/archive.../t-220073.html

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/archive.../t-303585.html

Plus, here's some interesting reading just on Star Wars and every videodisc release the series has seen.

Star Wars - The VideoDisc site